ĐỜI SỐNG TÂM LINH - BRENDAND 29TH SUNDAY -C
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- Category: 16. Sống Tình Thức
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Mo NguyenOct 19 at 6:32 AM
TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME / C
20 OCTOBER 2019
CRY FOR JUSTICE
REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL (Luke 18:1-8)
THE PERSISTENT CRY FOR JUSTICE
The parable in the Gospel for today commends praying to God with the kind of persistence shown by the widow in her dealings with the unjust judge. It does not mean that God unwilling to respond, needs to be worn down like the judge. Rather, it commends an attitude of trust in God that motivates persistence in prayer, even when an answer may seem a long time coming.
In Jesus’ society, widows were dependent on the sound working of the justice system since they lacked the support of a husband and possibly that of adult sons. Hence the plight of this woman, whose entreaties the judge so long ignores. As Jesus tells the story, the judge stirs himself on her behalf only when he suspects that she is going to become physically violent. Translated literally, what the judge says is ‘… lest she come and give me a black eye’ (the Greek expression actually comes from the boxing arena),
The force of the parable flows from a kind of contrasting logic. If the unjust judge moves at long last to grant justice to the widow, albeit through base and self-serving motives, how much more readily and certainly will the God of all goodness move to grant justice to those who make appeal day and night?
In a world where the poor, like the widow, cry out for justice, the challenge of the parable is sharp. Those whose actions or inertia allow many to suffer must reckon with a God firmly aligned with the cause of the poor.
Brendan Byrne, SJ
Cry for Justice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF4QkzobaKo
[MV 4K] Cho con biết yêu thương - Gia Ân (Lm. Từ Duyên):